As I start approaching the inevitable end of my college experience, it is only appropriate to take a slight look open. On the eve of my next step forward, I spent most of my day and night relaxing, but also review the past three years. However; this entry is not to lament the past, but to cherish the journey that I have traveled, and the light at the end of the road.
I can say that I am very happy to be reaching the city limits of where I will be eventually exiting. Over the next few weeks, I will be calling many people and traveling to different places. Even just a few months before, I would have never imagined this. That the ending that I seek is in the final straight stretch. No more long winding turns to make. The path of college is beginning to become less forked for the first time since three years ago.
Short and sweet, plus this was super meaningful. I like it.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
New Years and a New Beginning
So there are multiple advantages to posting one's Resolutions online. They are easy to access, and along those lines, it is easy for people to pressure you into sticking or doing them (at least, the "perception" of this is also very strong). While I tend not to make these because they may make me sad when I don't do them all (like several from last year), there's always hope for a better year right? I actually wasn't too bad last year. I hit 3 out of the 4 or 5 that I set for myself.
1. Keep my room clean: I am not a slob. At least, I don't consider myself one. While filling out the college roommate form, I marked myself as cluttered (defined as: having lots of stuff, but organizing them in a particular way). I am hoping; however, that attention to little things such as keeping my desk clear or making my bed every morning, will be encourage the development of a more organized lifestyle. I try pretty hard at this actually, Evernote and my meticulously designed folder system in Gmail and on my computer are testaments to this, but I find that my anal attentiveness has its limits.
2. Give a compelling argument to graduate schools: There are many things that I cannot control anymore, my GRE scores, my letters of recommendation, my GPA (for the most part), but there are things that I can still control. My goal this year is to submit the remaining applications to the best of my abilities. Naturally this resolution also includes getting into graduate school.
3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon: This has been my goal throughout college, but one that has evaded me during the last three and a half years. Throughout the last three years, I had spent my time building up both my physical strength and confidence to train and prepare for a marathon with a qualifying goal time. This past summer, all my efforts came to a shattering halt when I got hurt during my first 20 mile run. After spending most of my fall on recovering, cross-training and mentally resting, I find myself ready to once again chase my dream. My target marathon is the Cleveland Marathon, and my target time is anything quicker than 3 hours.
4. Enjoy the rest of senior year: So far this academic year has been filled with solidifying my closest friendships in college, especially with those who are grades below me. Given my enduring friendship with the group that I graduated high school with, I would say that spending time and enjoying the rest of my senior year with my closest friends is pretty important and defining.
5. A new hobby: A conscious decision that I made during the summer of my freshmen year was to consolidate what I devoted my time to. During the last three years, I have faithfully stuck to that decision. Despite several attempts during sophomore year to reach out, I maintained four core areas: school, research, volunteering and running. One of the biggest parts of my life that got cut during college was a creative hobby. After dabbling in a couple of "failed" creative projects during sophomore and junior year, I find myself wanting to try again in this area. While I occasionally finger at the piano while I am at home, I find it difficult to steal a practice room in the music department. Additionally, I already recognize that it will be very hard for me to return to my previous level of devotion. I hope that this year, I can find something to replace this former love of mine.
On a semi-related note: I discovered a new website, Thought Catalogue, that I really like. I found it from a friend's post. The article that I read incidentally was about New Year's Resolutions. Needless to say, I thought very highly of the post and am now addicted to this site. Check it out!
1. Keep my room clean: I am not a slob. At least, I don't consider myself one. While filling out the college roommate form, I marked myself as cluttered (defined as: having lots of stuff, but organizing them in a particular way). I am hoping; however, that attention to little things such as keeping my desk clear or making my bed every morning, will be encourage the development of a more organized lifestyle. I try pretty hard at this actually, Evernote and my meticulously designed folder system in Gmail and on my computer are testaments to this, but I find that my anal attentiveness has its limits.
2. Give a compelling argument to graduate schools: There are many things that I cannot control anymore, my GRE scores, my letters of recommendation, my GPA (for the most part), but there are things that I can still control. My goal this year is to submit the remaining applications to the best of my abilities. Naturally this resolution also includes getting into graduate school.
3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon: This has been my goal throughout college, but one that has evaded me during the last three and a half years. Throughout the last three years, I had spent my time building up both my physical strength and confidence to train and prepare for a marathon with a qualifying goal time. This past summer, all my efforts came to a shattering halt when I got hurt during my first 20 mile run. After spending most of my fall on recovering, cross-training and mentally resting, I find myself ready to once again chase my dream. My target marathon is the Cleveland Marathon, and my target time is anything quicker than 3 hours.
4. Enjoy the rest of senior year: So far this academic year has been filled with solidifying my closest friendships in college, especially with those who are grades below me. Given my enduring friendship with the group that I graduated high school with, I would say that spending time and enjoying the rest of my senior year with my closest friends is pretty important and defining.
5. A new hobby: A conscious decision that I made during the summer of my freshmen year was to consolidate what I devoted my time to. During the last three years, I have faithfully stuck to that decision. Despite several attempts during sophomore year to reach out, I maintained four core areas: school, research, volunteering and running. One of the biggest parts of my life that got cut during college was a creative hobby. After dabbling in a couple of "failed" creative projects during sophomore and junior year, I find myself wanting to try again in this area. While I occasionally finger at the piano while I am at home, I find it difficult to steal a practice room in the music department. Additionally, I already recognize that it will be very hard for me to return to my previous level of devotion. I hope that this year, I can find something to replace this former love of mine.
On a semi-related note: I discovered a new website, Thought Catalogue, that I really like. I found it from a friend's post. The article that I read incidentally was about New Year's Resolutions. Needless to say, I thought very highly of the post and am now addicted to this site. Check it out!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Lots of Food and New Things
Definitely one of the best vacations I've had in a very long time. The improper grammar should be an indication of its greatness. So without further ado, here is a sneak peak!
Somehow, my mom, brother and I managed to persuade my dad to go on a cruise for Christmas (with all the other family friends of course). The one vacation that had evaded my family (a couple of us are particularly prone to motion-sickness) was finally within grasps. After suffering through the long drive to Miami, we got on the cruise with just enough time to spare.
Almost immediately after getting onto the cruise, I started to eat, which resulted in this:
Fast forward through a safety drill, and I watched one of my first sunsets in a very long time:
Dinner was quite impressive, and my Mahi Mahi tasted really good. Fortunately, I didn't know that I could order multiples of things (which lead to delicious overeating of desert the next few nights), so I only ordered one dish from each course. That night I desperately tried to catch up on reading Brisingr (probably the only time, I have for casual reading).
The second morning, my brother and I spent most of our day in Nassau, Bahamas. There we snorkeled (picture way above is the water there). Snorkeling was so much fun; I'm definitely buying some equipment before next time. After a quick nap while everyone else was running around trying to find things to do, we went to dinner, where my brother promptly decided to stuff himself (2 entree dishes). The comedy show after dinner, was the greatest case of a mix bag performance ever. Trying to occupy our time afterwards, our group decided to play Mafia. However, the effort to demonstrate to our parents how to play the game quickly turned south and quickly reminded me why I rarely play games with my parents.
The third day, we went to a private beach (I can't believe cruise lines own their own islands).
After deciding to sleep in on Christmas for the first time in who knows how many years, I finally got up at around 10, thanks to my persistent alarm (my mom). A quick breakfast, and my family and I were on the tender heading towards the island. The sand on the island was so clean and soft compared to the hard, gritty sand in Michigan. Besides burying my brother in the sun a couple of times, I also had a healthy dose of sun, snorkeling, turkey burgers and sleep. Dinner was fine as always, and our final night was filled with a surprisingly good Christmas show (the singers were really good). After the show, my friends and I sat out on the deck and played board games. It was so nice and peaceful; I miss it already. Overall, it was a wonderful trip, and you can bet that I'll be going on more.
Somehow, my mom, brother and I managed to persuade my dad to go on a cruise for Christmas (with all the other family friends of course). The one vacation that had evaded my family (a couple of us are particularly prone to motion-sickness) was finally within grasps. After suffering through the long drive to Miami, we got on the cruise with just enough time to spare.
Almost immediately after getting onto the cruise, I started to eat, which resulted in this:
Dinner was quite impressive, and my Mahi Mahi tasted really good. Fortunately, I didn't know that I could order multiples of things (which lead to delicious overeating of desert the next few nights), so I only ordered one dish from each course. That night I desperately tried to catch up on reading Brisingr (probably the only time, I have for casual reading).
The second morning, my brother and I spent most of our day in Nassau, Bahamas. There we snorkeled (picture way above is the water there). Snorkeling was so much fun; I'm definitely buying some equipment before next time. After a quick nap while everyone else was running around trying to find things to do, we went to dinner, where my brother promptly decided to stuff himself (2 entree dishes). The comedy show after dinner, was the greatest case of a mix bag performance ever. Trying to occupy our time afterwards, our group decided to play Mafia. However, the effort to demonstrate to our parents how to play the game quickly turned south and quickly reminded me why I rarely play games with my parents.
The third day, we went to a private beach (I can't believe cruise lines own their own islands).
After deciding to sleep in on Christmas for the first time in who knows how many years, I finally got up at around 10, thanks to my persistent alarm (my mom). A quick breakfast, and my family and I were on the tender heading towards the island. The sand on the island was so clean and soft compared to the hard, gritty sand in Michigan. Besides burying my brother in the sun a couple of times, I also had a healthy dose of sun, snorkeling, turkey burgers and sleep. Dinner was fine as always, and our final night was filled with a surprisingly good Christmas show (the singers were really good). After the show, my friends and I sat out on the deck and played board games. It was so nice and peaceful; I miss it already. Overall, it was a wonderful trip, and you can bet that I'll be going on more.
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